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Old March 29th, 2002, 12:42 AM
jumpmaster jumpmaster is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: southwestern pa
Posts: 23
Exclamation Contests ... Good or Bad?

I would like to know what others think - hosts and singers - about karaoke contests.

I personally have been on both sides of them, and I despise them! In fact, I all but refuse to do them. When I do conduct a contest, I make it abundantly clear that I despise them, that I am not a judge, that I did not (because I will not) pick the judges, I am not providing any of the prizes, I'm just spinning the discs, and as for me...they all showed up and sang...so to me they're ALL WINNERS!

How can you pick judges? Out of the crowd? Heck no, they are bound to know some of the folks in the contest and that would seem to be a conflict in the making. Do you bring in "pros" or folks from local bands who don't make their living from karaoke and are not likely to "know" the contestants? How do you know they don't "know" any of the singers? What kind of band do they play in, rock, and if so would they even consider someone singing a song like "Silver Wings?" Why would any band member in his right mind volunteer for such a thing, and if they're paid, who will pay them?

The judges aside, how can any judging be fair? Do you judge on appearance, vocal ability, or performance? One singer looks and dresses exacly like the original but stands still, doesn't move around, looks at the screen and doesn't sing well. Another sings great, but lacks performance skills and doesn't look like anything like the original. Yet another person will jump around, be goofy, sing the song never looking at the screen and the crowd loves him, even though he can't sing a lick! Should that person win? Then you factor in nice looking, sexy, upbeat songs vs. slow old country, and so on, it ends up being like comparing bicycles to watermellons.

I've seen crowd applause determine the winner, and aside from humiliating the less qualified contestants, it seemed more like who brought the most folks with them than any real merit judging. I've seen judging based on scores of 1-10 for performance, vocal ability, and appearance which are all added up for a total score ranging from 3-30 and of course the most points wins. Now I know that sounds like a great idea, but when the scores are added all up, no one, not even the judges know how that person won!

The perfect winner would sing great, look like the original, and have the crowd eating out of their hands and have no real competition...but believe me, I've been to many contests and there's never a clear winner. What's worse, I have never been to a contest and had the person win that I thought should.

I don't recall ever being at a contest where the people I talked to, contestents or audience agreed on the winner. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard "it was rigged" or they were "ringers" or "the judge was their friend" or something negative like that.

Furthermore, I've heard stories of bar owners doing a big contest and not coming up with the prizes. I've never seen it personally, nor can I confirm the stories...but still the stories in themselves are detrimental.

Anyway, unless you guys set me straight, I'll remain anti-contest. I can't seem to shake the feeling that by telling this one person they are number one, I've actually told all the rest of my singers they aren't number one. I can honestly say that all my singers are number one with me!

Any thoughts?

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Dennis
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